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Who is Kurt Kitayama?
Kurt Kitayama has been a golfing sensation since he was a teenager, following in his brother’s footsteps. Kurt Kitayama has reportedly gone all over the world to indulge his passion as a golfer. Kitayama was among the first golfing prodigies to come out of Chico.
He has also achieved far the fastest streak of two victories on the European Tour.
Kurt has always been the one to aim solely for the best, both as a player and as a person.
He competes for the European Tour at the moment and won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Well, it wasn’t until his third Tour start.
Early Life of Kurt Kitayama
Kurt Shun Kitayama, also known as Kitayama, was born on January 14, 1993, with the sun sign of Capricorn.
In addition, Rumiko Kitayama and Clifford Kitayama’s second child is him.
It seems that Daniel Kitayama, his older brother, is a golfer as well.
Kurt has an Asian appearance, as we all know, and he revealed in one of the interviews that he is of Asian heritage.
He does have a Japanese mother.
Moving on, Kurt started playing golf at the age of just five.
He was first exposed to golf by a family friend, to give further details.
After that, he and his older brother would frequently play rounds of golf at Butte Creek Country Club.
Following that, he received instruction from Butte Creek Head Pro Mike Mattingly.
The sources claim that Kitayama was very thorough with his play and constantly used all of Mattingly’s advice.
But as a child, golf wasn’t always his first love. Kurt had a love for basketball when he was in fourth grade.
More Facts about Kurt Kitayama
| Full Name | Kurt Shun Kitayama |
| Date of Birth | January 14, 1993 |
| Birth Place | Chico, California |
| Nick Name | ‘The Project’ |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Asian-American |
| Zodiac Sign | Capricorn |
| Age | 29 years old |
| Height | 5’7″ (1.70 meters) |
| Weight | 170 lb (77 kg) |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Build | Athletic |
| Father’s Name | Clifford Kitayama |
| Mother’s Name | Rumiko Kitayama |
| Siblings | An older brother, Daniel Kitayama |
| Education | Chico High School University of Nevada, Las Vegas |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Girlfriend | None |
| Profession | Golfer |
| Current Tour | European Tour |
| Former Tour | Web.com Tour Asian Tour |
| Active Years | 2015-present |
| Professional Wins | Three |
| Autograph | Augusta National Scorecard COA |
| Net Worth | $2 million |
| Social Media | Instagram, Twitter |
| Merch | Notebook, Golf Merch |
| Last Update | July 2022 |
Education and Golf Fundamentals
Kurt Kitayama studied at Chico High.
He served as the Senior Co-Captain and starting point guard for his high school’s AAU basketball team, the Chico Blazin’ Heat, at that time.
He has also been referred to as Sterling Smith, a fellow Chico High alumnus and member of the team’s high-scoring tandem.
His basketball team won the 2011 California Northern Section title under his collective leadership.
In addition, Kitayama participated in the Championship games after beating Pleasant Valley High School, a rival school in their city.
In addition, he switched from basketball to golf later in his high school career after learning he could advance more quickly with it.
Kurt even joined his brother Daniel in playing at the University of Hawaii at Hilo when they were juniors in 2007–2008.
The American-born player eventually began working as a professional caddie after a number of years of playing similarly.
He also had a prominent role at the Torrey Pines South Course, which hosted the 2008 U.S. Open in San Diego, California.
Kurt participated in the 2009 Callaway Junior World Golf Championships the very next year.
He was named 2009 Player of the Year by The Junior Golf Association of Northern California in the interim.
Kurt completed high school in 2009 and enrolled at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas the following year.
He participated in the best Division I golf program during that time, and by the end of his college career, he had excelled.
He earned an All-American distinction during his four years at UNLV and was named to the Academic All-MW team three times in a row.
Kurt’s best finish in amateur golf was 47th, and in both 2014 and 2015, he took first place at the Jackrabbit Invitational in Primm, Nevada.
Volunteer accomplishments and nickname
He was criticized for being egotistical and overly competitive as an amateur.
He won’t hesitate to deal harshly with anyone who crosses him, though.
Kurt may irritate people because he’s so competitive, said Kitayama’s former coach Kevin Wilkerson frequently.
Kurt is fiercely confident in himself despite this.
Kurt also acquired the strange moniker “The Project” while he was a college student.
It was true that the name was not attractive at the time.
Kurt struggled a lot his freshman year, as he revealed the meaning of the nickname.
Simply put, he wasn’t a good golfer and would only make a concerted effort to improve his games.
At that time, the Southern Highlands Golf Club’s director of golf (in Las Vegas) gave him the moniker.
Overall, he remembered that name for the rest of his life. Some of his later-day accomplishments are noted below.
- 2014 Jackrabbit Invitational
- 2015 Jackrabbit Invitational
Kurt Kitayama | Professional Career
Kitayama performed for the Web.com tour after declaring his status as a professional in 2015.
Kurt enjoyed a few court victories in the early years of his professional career.
He primarily participated in the Asian Tour later in 2018.
At the time, Kitayama won the PGM Darulaman Championship, the only Asian Development Tour competition, in Malaysia.
The New Zealand Open, the Royal Cup, the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf, and the Japan Golf Circuit were a few of his memorable finishes on the tour.
He played on the European Tour that year, where he won his first tournament at the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open.
In addition, he participated in the 2019 European Tour and the European Tour Q-School.
By winning the Oman Open in the middle of the 2019 season, Kurt added another European Tour triumph to his resume.
He had just achieved the fastest two-win feat in European Tour history at that point.
After that, he participated in the PGA Tours.
Kurt also visited numerous countries for his golf court.
Achievements
The following is a list of Kitayama’s professional golfing victories to date.
- Two trips to Europe (AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and Oman Open)
- One tour of Asia (AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open)
- One development tour of Asia (PGM Darulaman Championship)
Net Worth
Kurt Kitayama currently earns $276,460 per year and has a net worth of $2 million.
Kurt makes money through brand promotion and sponsorships in addition to his career-related golf earnings.
Golf Supplies
Kurt Kitayama constantly makes sure to use the greatest golf equipment for his game.
He used to utilize the TaylorMade M5 and M6 drivers, but now he uses the new SIM driver in the bag.
He utilizes TaylorMade for both the utility iron and the fairway wood for golf.
His previous iron was a TaylorMade GAPR Mid utility iron, and his current iron is a TaylorMade P790 UDI.
He also has shafts from Graphite Design.
He has also bladed P730s for everything from a five-iron to a pitching wedge.
Throughout the game, he carries three wedges from the TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 lineup, with lofts of 52, 56, and 60 degrees.
The complete list of his equipment is provided below.
- Driver: Graphite Design DI 7 X shaft, TaylorMade SIM, 9 degrees.
- TaylorMade SIM, Graphite Design DI 8 X shaft fairway wood
- Irons: Dynamic Gold X100 shafts; TaylorMade P750 (4) and P730 (5-PW).
- Wedges: Dynamic Golf S400 shafts are used with the TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 (52, 56, and 60 degrees).
- Putter: Special Select Scotty Cameron Fastback 1.5.
Also read: Mick Schumacher Patrick Chan Galen Rupp
Personal Life of Kurt Kitayama
Kitayama is presently single and has never been in a relationship.
Actually, Kurt hasn’t been involved in any relationship-related controversies or speculations either.
Kitayama actually prefers to keep his personal affairs private, so not much about his personal life is posted on his social media accounts.
But he can also be more preoccupied with his professional life at the moment, concentrating primarily on that aspect.
With 1.1k followers, Kurt can be found on Instagram as @kurt kitayama.
Not to mention, he has 940 followers on Twitter under the handle @Kurt Kitayama.
